Meet Lulu.

Lulu is a gorgeous little polar bear who loves to sing and dance. But dancing on ice and pirouetting on snow just can’t compare with the call of the show. Lulu dreams of more. She dreams of performing on a real stage.

Despite her friends’ discouragement, Lulu follows her dreams and sails to the city in search of excitement and the theatre. Very soon she becomes an accomplished entertainer; performing to princesses, princes and queens with their kings.

But as much as she loves the stage, the city and the lights, Lulu soon realises there is nothing more satisfying than being with her friends back on the ice.

Little girls everywhere will fall in love with this talented polar bear. I can already see Lulu plush toys in demand!

I take great delight in the fact that Lulu is not deterred or dismayed by her friends’ discouragement. With the wonderful message of encouraging children to chase their dreams, despite obstacles and adversaries, the story also highlights the importance of friendship and love above all.

Lulu is an endearing story written by Georgie Donaghey. The cantering metered rhyme makes for a fun and enjoyable read-aloud story. Ann-Marie Finn’s illustrations, with her clever choice of colour, are simply adorable.

A charming story to delight children again and again.

Original Review: www.kids-bookreview.com/2015/06/review-lulu

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Georgie Donaghey’s charming verse and Ann-Marie Finn’s enchanting illustrations have combined to create ‘Lulu’.

Following your dreams, the joy of performance and the importance of friendship are the key ingredients in this delightful picture book about Lulu, an ambitious little polar bear who seeks fame on the stage.

Adults will love reading the story aloud to young children and older children will delight in reading the book themselves while dreaming their own special dreams.

Pat's website: www.patsimmonswriter.com.au

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From the first page, you can't help falling in love with Lulu. This beautiful polar bear with something more on her mind than her cosy life of fishing amongst the ice.

Lulu longs for the lights of the stage, and will be never content to only dance in front of a pack of sea lions. 

When her friends remind her of her place, Lulu packs up and heads for the city. 

Opening night, the butterflies flutter and tickle her belly, but Lulu doesn't give in to her limbs wobbling like jelly. 

She conquers the stage with polish and grace, night after night with a smile on her face. 

Her dream of performing has certainly come true, but Lulu is lonely and misses her crew.

She heads on home, to find her friends have built her, her very own show.Lulu's life is once again cosy and nice with her wonderfully supportive friends on the ice.

I read this with my almost 4 year old who was captivated from start to finish. We loved the whimsical rhyme that flowed so smoothly, making this a great read aloud. The stunning illustrations by Ann-Marie Finn bring Lulu to life. Every page is so beautiful I wanted to print them to put upon my little girls walls. My absolute favourite illustration is this one.

The overarching theme of following your dreams but keeping grounded in yourself is expertly woven into the story, making this a book I suspect will be read over and over again in our household.

Georgie Donaghey has a true sense of what entertains children and I believe this will be a great addition to any child's book shelf ages 3-6.

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At first glance, life on the icy floes may seem appealing. (Unless you reside in SE Queensland as I do with no real concept of what cold is until you have to live through ‘an unseasonably cold winter’ with little more than a cotton tee-shirt and a pair of bed socks). In Lulu’s world, there is more ice than you can shake an Eskimo at and ‘mountains of fish’ to sate the largest appetite. What more could a young polar bear desire? Yet like many of us closeted in the everyday cosiness of the familiar, Lulu harbours dreams and a hankering to fulfil them.

Lulu’s name ribbons across the sweetly simple cover of Georgie Donaghey’s debut picture book, Lulu. Along with illustrator, Ann-Marie Finn, Donaghey has created a tale that will strike at least two chords with many young readers aged three and above: the need to chase one’s desires no matter how ambitious and dancing.

Expounding these themes, Donaghey uses carefully nurtured verse to draw the reader along with Lulu who sets off alone in pursuit of her dream of performing on the big stage. It’s not really a case of running away, rather running to somewhere. Pirouetting on the snow for her Arctic friends just doesn’t cut it for her anymore and in true grass-is-greener style, or in this case, the lights-are-brighter-than-the-aurora-borealis style, Lulu eventually conquers her ambitions, finds her place on stage and performs for many seasons in the big city.

It’s a life filled with glamour and fame, highbrow audiences and gratifying reviews but sadly not with true friends. Turns out, the ice is greener after all and eventually the call of home lures Lulu back.

Donaghey does well to point out to young readers that it’s okay to have dreams and great aspirations. We don’t always attain our goals, but sometimes, if we want them hard enough, dreams do come true. Lulu was lucky enough to experience the realisation of her strongest desires but also to realise that her most steadfast believers, her friends would always be there waiting for her no matter how far away her dreams took her. This conveys a positive message of security for children, stressing the importance of being self-assured.

 Finns’ considered colour choices for the illustrations are uncomplicated revealing mood, time and place with minimal clutter. White space replicates the vast pristine landscape of Lulu’s home with subtle colour shifts and blends from polar blues and whites to snowflake- pretty sunset yellows used to maximum effect on what could have been a monochromatic environment to illustrate. Little blips of pink provide contrast and encourage little eyes to focus on Lulu, the true star of the show.

With its soft matt cover (in this paperback edition), comfortable rhythm, and pleasing artwork it is hard not to be warmed by this story set on the ice.

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